Books
James Logenbach, The Art of the Poetic Line. Graywolf Press, 2008.
Emily Rosko and Anton Vander Zee, editors. A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line. University of Iowa Press, 2011.
Chapters and Essays
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge. “Two Lines.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Alfred Corn. “Line and Stress.” The Poem’s Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody. Copper Canyon Press, 2008, pp. 3-22.
Stephen Dobyns. “line breaks.” Next Word, Better Word: The Craft of Writing Poetry. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011, pp. 89-110.
Camille T. Dungy. “Shore Lines.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, December 31, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Dana Gioia. “Thirteen Ways of Thinking about the Poetic Line.” Danagioia.com.
Rebecca Hazelton, “Learning the Poetic Line: How Line Breaks Shape Meaning,” PoetryFoundation.org, Poetry Foundation, September 8, 2014.
Denise Levertov. “On the Function of the Line.” Chicago Review, vol. 30, no. 3, Winter 1979, pp. 30-36. Also found on JSTOR.
Dana Levin. “Where It Breaks: Drama, Silence, Speed, and Accrual.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Timothy Liu. “This Is Just to Say That So Much Depends Upon.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Heather McHugh. “Tiny Etude on the Poetic Line.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Sandra McPherson. “The Working Line.” Field: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. Edited by David Young, Stuart Friebert, John Hobbs, and Alberta Turner. Issue no. 8, Spring 1973, pp. 54-60.
Charles Olson. “Projective Verse,” Collected Prose. Edited by Donald Allen and Benjamin Friedlander, University of California Press, 1997. Originally published in Selected Writings of Charles Olsen, New Directions, 1967, and available on PoetryFoundation.org.
Robert Pinsky. “Syntax and Line.” The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999, pp. 25-50.
Robert Pinsky. “Blank Verse and Free Verse.” The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999, pp. 97-50.
Alberto Ríos, “Some Thoughts on the Integrity of the Single Line in Poetry,” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2011. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Emily Rosko. “Mapping the Line.” Introduction. A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line. Edited by Emily Rosko and Anton Vander Zee. University of Iowa Press, 2011, pp. 24-33.
Jason Schneiderman, “A History and Theory of the Line in English Language Poetry,” American Poetry Review, vol. 51, no. 4, July/August 2022.
Tim Siebles. “Croon: A Brief on the Line.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, February 19, 2014. Reprinted from A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line.
Anton Vander Zee. “New Minds, New Lines.” Introduction. A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line. Edited by Emily Rosko and Anton Vander Zee. University of Iowa Press, 2011, pp. 5-24.
James Wright and Louis Simpson, “Two Responses to ‘The Working Line,'” Field: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. Edited by David Young, Stuart Friebert, John Hobbs, and Alberta Turner. Issue no. 8, Spring 1973, pp. 61-65.
Interviews
Kathy Fagan. “Interview with Kathy Fagan.” Interview by Shannon K. Winston. Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. August 26, 2022.
Phillis Levin. “Recording Mortal Sight: The Drama of Prosody: An Interview with Phillis Levin.” Interview by Blas Falconer, Beth Martinelli, and Helena Mesa. Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. August 30, 2010.
Audio & Video
Marianne Boruch, “Line and Room,” Warren Wilson College Craft Lecture, July 1996. Audio.
Stephen Dobyns, “Linebreaks,” Warren Wilson College Craft Lecture, July 2008. Audio.
James Logenbach, “The End of the Line,” Warren Wilson College Craft Lecture, January 2002. Audio.
Kevin McIlvoy, “Reflections on the Sentence and Poetic Line,” Warren Wilson College Craft Lecture, January 2011. Audio.
Alan Williamson, “How the Line Means in Free Verse,” Warren Wilson College Craft Lecture, July 2012. Audio.